French Social Affairs and Health Minister Marisol Touraine (C) arrives at Roger Salengro hospital in Lille, May 11, 2013, where the patient with confirmed case of the SARS-like coronavirus is treated.

Credit: Reuters/Pascal Rossignol

PARIS | Sun May 12, 2013 6:43am EDT

PARIS (Reuters) - A second case of a new SARS-like coronavirus has been diagnosed in France, the Health Ministry said on Sunday, in what appeared to be a case of human-to-human transmission.

The new infection was found in a patient who had shared a hospital room with the only other confirmed sufferer in France, the ministry said in a statement.

Health experts are concerned about clusters of cases of the new coronavirus strain, nCoV, which started in the Gulf and has spread to France, Britain and Germany. But there has so far been little evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission.

Professor Benoit Guery, head of the Lille hospital's infectious diseases unit, said the second infection suggested that airborne transmission of the virus was possible, although the ministry noted that the roommates had had "close and prolonged contact".

"The transmission chain is becoming clearer," Guery told BFM Television.

France's second case was confirmed in a 50-year-old man who had shared a hospital room in Valenciennes, northern France, with a 65-year-old who had fallen ill after returning from Dubai and was later diagnosed with the disease.

Both men are now in hospital in the nearby city of Lille, where they are being kept in isolation.

Health officials screened 124 people who had come into contact with the first confirmed case, and carried out laboratory tests on at least five, including three health professionals.

All came back negative except his former hospital roommate, who had shared a room with him between April 27 and 29, the ministry said.

French health authorities are now broadening their screening effort to include anyone who has been in contact with the second confirmed case.

The latest diagnosis brings the number of cases confirmed globally to 34, after Saudi Arabia said two people admitted to hospital there in April had tested positive for the disease.

(This story is corrected with total number of people screened in paragraph 8 to 124, not 24)

(Reporting by Nicolas Delame; writing by Laurence Frost; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Women of the Muslim Community arrive to attend the official inauguration of Strasbourg Grand Mosque in Strasbourg, September 27, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Vincent Kessler

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS | Thu May 9, 2013 3:18pm EDT

PARIS (Reuters) - France's Muslim leaders have agreed to end almost 1,400 years of Islamic tradition and use modern astronomy to determine the start of the holy month of Ramadan and other Islamic holidays.

The French Muslim Council (CFCM) voted on Thursday to start using astronomical calculations to set the date rather than relying on the naked eye to sight the new crescent moon.

Ramadan traditionally begins the morning after the sighting, which has in the past been delayed by a day or even two by weather.

Council President Mohammad Moussaoui said the old method played havoc with French Muslims' schedules for work, school and festivities. France's five million Muslims are the largest Islamic minority in Europe.

"Now all this will be simplified," he said, and promptly announced the Ramadan fast would begin on July 9 this year.

Turkey began using scientific calculations to set the start of Ramadan decades ago. Muslims in Germany, who are mostly of Turkish origin, and those in Bosnia also use this method.

Muslim minorities elsewhere in Europe often start Ramadan according to its beginning in their countries of origin, or in Saudi Arabia. That can lead to different ethnic groups starting it on different days, even in the same country.

"This is historic. Now all Muslims in France can start Ramadan on the same day," said Lyon Muslim leader Azzedine Gaci.

Muslim scientists have been arguing for using astronomy to determine Islamic dates for years, especially now that globalised communications make it increasingly awkward for different countries to start Ramadan on different days.

Complicating the calculations, the Islamic lunar calendar is 10 to 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar developed in Europe, so the dates for Ramadan fall a week and a half earlier as each year in the western calendar passes.

Moussaoui said French Muslims were not planning to ask for their holidays to be included in the national calendar.

"It would be more important for us that they are taken into consideration, that's all," he said.

(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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